When A Healer Needs Healing
by NextTimeI'llBeBraver
Summary: Ninth story in our Lost Chronicles series. While camping near Osgiliath, the group is attack by an Orc and Aragorn is fatally injured. Will he survive the night? By Savannah (Aragorn & Eowyn) (Legolas & Arwen)


Aragorn rested with his back to a tree staring into the fire listening for any noise outside of their small camp. He looked down longingly to where Eowyn lay stretched out fast asleep beside the fire. His head shot up when he heard a twig snap in the forest. "Wake up," he said jumping to his feet and grabbing his sword as he began to walk in the direction of the noise.

Eowyn rolled over and watched him sleepily. Suddenly an arrow flew into the light of their camp. "Aragorn!" Eowyn screamed as it hit him. Aragorn stumbled backwards as the arrow embedded itself in his rib cage. Eowyn ran to his side and lowered him to the ground. "Legolas, wake up!" Eowyn screamed. Aragorn looked down at the arrow and wrapped his fingers around the shaft, he looked up at Eowyn's worried face. Her hand rested on his cheek and he pressed his face further into the hand as he ripped the arrow from his chest. He screamed arching his back in pain then lay in Eowyn's arms panting. Eowyn looked up as the Orc who had fired the shot stood over her, crossbow in hand. "Legolas!" she yelled again desperately.

The Orc began to laugh but it was cut short as Legolas flew at him from the side tackling him down to the ground. Legolas sat up from where he had fallen and slit the Orc's throat.

"Aragorn, no!" Eowyn said still holding his cheek, tears beginning to slip down her cheeks. "Aragorn, stay with me keep your eyes open," she said as Aragorn drifted into unconsciousness. "Aragorn!" she yelled as his hand slipped from hers and fell to the ground. Eowyn looked up as Arwen knelt beside them.

"It's alright, Eowyn," she said. "He's going to be okay." Eowyn looked at her, fear shinning in her eyes but she nodded. "We need to stop the bleeding," Arwen said leaning over to grab Aragorn's pack. She reached inside it pulling out bandages and began to wrap the blood spurting hole in Aragorn's side.

Legolas came and knelt in the group. "Arwen, bandages aren't going to stop that."

Arwen looked up at him. "What do we do?" The three of them looked at each other for a second then Arwen lunged for Aragorn's pack pulling out his medicine bag. Her and Legolas began pulling every bottle and vile that they could find out.

Eowyn looked down at were Aragorn's head rested in the crook of her arm. "Please don't go," she whispered under her breath. "I need you."

"Here," Legolas said. "Give him some of this."

Arwen took it from his hands and poured a drop into Aragorn's mouth. Immediately Aragorn began to cough making blood seep through the bandages his eyes flickered open and Eowyn smiled down at him. Arwen touched his arm. "Aragorn, tell us what to do," she said.

"Show me the arrow," he said. Arwen picked it up and held it where he could see. Aragorn groaned. "They really are trying to kill me," he said.

Arwen smiled sadly, brushing the sweaty hair away from her cousins face. "You need to tell us how to heal you, Aragorn," she said more urgently.

"I'm cold," he said his eyes closing again.

"Move him closer to the fire," Legolas said picking up Aragorn's legs. Between him and Eowyn they managed to bring him as close to the fire as they dared.

Arwen covered his legs with a blanket. "Now what do we do?" she asked.

"Stop me from bleeding out," he said. "The arrow head is too big, sage," he said incoherently. Arwen nodded as Legolas looked in the bag finally pulling it out. She pulled some of the leaves out of the small paper envelope. "Chew them," Aragorn said trying to keep his eyes from closing.

"What?" Arwen asked confused.

"Make a paste" Legolas said taking them from her. Eowyn watched as Legolas put the sage on Aragorn's wound then wrapped it back up again.

"Aragorn," Arwen said but he was gone again.

"Let him rest," Legolas said. Eowyn nodded and lay him down on the ground.

Arwen turned to Legolas, away from Eowyn. "I can't do this," she said Legolas nodded.

"We need to get someone who can help him"

"The arrow cracked his ribs and he's already lost enough blood to kill a regular mortal."

"Osgiliath," Eowyn said.

Arwen jumped then looked at Eowyn. "Faramir will be there, he will have some kind of healer with him," she stated.

Legolas nodded.

"I should leave as soon as possible," Eowyn said.

Arwen and Legolas looked at each other. "Eowyn," Legolas said gently. "You're the smallest and fastest rider here, but you can't go alone." Eowyn looked down at Aragorn. "I'll stay with him," Legolas said moving over to touch her shoulder.

"I'll go with you, Eowyn," Arwen said. Eowyn nodded and stood resolute. She walked over to her horse and climbed on never looking back.

Arwen stood up and began to walk toward Eowyn but Legolas pulled her back. "Be careful," he said wrapping his arms around her.

"I will," she said, breathing in his scent and feeling the warmth of his arms around her.

..::..

Eowyn rode through the night pushing her horse till day break. Arwen galloped next to her trying to keep up. Suddenly Eowyn's horse's leg gave out beneath it; Arwen gasped as Eowyn was thrown into the air. "Eowyn!" Arwen yelled pulling up her horse and jumping down to kneel beside Eowyn.

Eowyn blinked the fog from her eyes as she sat up and tried to ignore the pain in her back. "Look out!" she screamed but it was too late. A warg flew out of the trees slamming into Arwen. Arwen screamed as the warg's mouth came down on her arm tearing at the flesh. Eowyn tried to run to where the warg had dragged Arwen but there were too many Orcs now barring the way. The warg shook Arwen like a rag doll a sickening crunch sound coming from her arm. Arwen's body went limp, her sword dropping from her hand. "No!" Eowyn screamed. Suddenly an arrow flew through the air. Eowyn looked around confused as men in green appeared from nowhere and began to kill the Orcs. She felt someone wrap an arm around her waist and lift her up onto a moving horse. Eowyn turned in the saddle screaming curses but when she saw who it was she stopped wide eyed. "Faramir!" she exclaimed. "Faramir, we need to go back! Arwen! The warg!" she yelled.

Faramir reigned up his horse and scanned where his men were fighting the Orcs. "Eowyn, there's no one else here," he said looking down at her.

Eowyn stared blankly at him, slowly he began to trot away from the fighting. "No!" Eowyn screamed at him. "We can't leave! She's going to die!" Faramir ignored her and pressed on. "Faramir!" she began to beat his chest. "We can't leave her!" She pushed him as hard as she could. "We can't just leave her to die!" Eowyn screamed over and over until her voice was raw. Finally she gave up, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Faramir looked down at her with pity. "You should never have been up here alone, my lady," he said. Eowyn's neck was smeared with black Orc blood and it splattered up onto the side of her face, her blond hair, and flying in every direction. Her cheeks were flushed and her deep blue eyes were shining. Faramir made a face. "Where's Eomer?" he asked.

Eowyn looked away. "He's gone," she said.

Faramir looked horrified. "Died?" he said wide eyed.

"No!" Eowyn said. "Not yet I hope."

Faramir nodded. "You will be safe with us, I will take you to the forbidden pool."

Eowyn's head snapped up. " I don't need your protection," she snarled.

"My lord," one of the rangers called from behind them. They both turned to him looking at what was in his hand. "It's an Elven arrow." Faramir sighed as Eowyn smirked at him and slid down from the horse.

"Find the warg's tracks, I last saw them going that way!" she yelled giving orders like they were her men. They turned to Faramir, he nodded and they walked out into the forest following tracks expertly. Eowyn followed close behind, her arms crossed. Suddenly the party stopped and Eowyn's stomach jumped into her throat she pushed through the crowd of men and gasped. Arwen lay on the ground blood pulsing from her arm. The warg lay beside her, an arrow protruding from its eye. Eowyn fell to her knees beside Arwen lifting her head on her lap. "Arwen," Eowyn whispered, the cracking noise of Arwen's arm resounding in her head. Faramir gasped and jumped from his horse. "We need to bandage her arm, it's broken," Eowyn said.

Faramir dropped down beside her. "Eowyn, I'm so sorry, I should have listened to you."

Eowyn looked up at him. "I know, but now is not the time. We need to get her to a healer."

He nodded, pulling a pack from his back and pulled out bandages. "We need a splint," he said to one of his men cut a branch from a tree and stripped it of his leaves. Eowyn bit her lip as Faramir strapped it to her arm. Sweat dripped down Arwen's forehead and Eowyn wiped away the hair from Arwen's brow, sighing.

..::..

Arwen's eyes blinked open, the bright light of the room making her head pound. She looked down at her arm, it was wrapped around with bandages and when she tried to move it she felt the splints holding it still. She sat up slowly, looking around the room, a smile spread across her face. Eowyn sat on the floor her head leaning on the bed fast asleep. Arwen lay back down, tired from the simple movement.

Eowyn opened her eyes and stretched. "How long have you been awake for?" she asked sleepily moving to sit on the bed.

"Not long," she said.

"How's your arm?" she asked.

"Sore," Arwen said.

Eowyn's eyebrows rose. "You must be drugged."

Arwen smiled and nodded. "It's broken, isn't it?" she asked. Eowyn nodded. "It will heal fast, I'm an Elf."

Eowyn nodded looking down. "I have to go bring them to Aragorn," she said standing. "I don't know when I'll be back," she said.

Arwen tried to sit up but her head began to spin. "I'm coming," she said.

Eowyn smiled pushing her lightly down to the pillows. "No, you're not," she said then left the room but Arwen called her back.

"You love him, don't you?"

Eowyn's eyebrows knit together. "He used me and lied to me, Arwen. All he wanted was someone to warm his bed at night."

Arwen sighed. "I know that is how it would seem," she said. "But I have known Aragorn for a lifetime, and that is not what he wants. He is an honorable man, Eowyn, more honorable then most, and he loves you."

Eowyn walked slowly back toward the bed, her arms crossed. "Then why is he running from who he is, who he is meant to be?"

"All Aragorn has ever wanted ever since he was small was a simple life. He always spent all his time outdoors, in the woods, not in a city made of stone. He told me once when he was only a youth that all he wanted was to live in a small cabin, have a wife that loved him, a son he could raise and a daughter to dote on. Will the king of Gondor ever have a life like that?"

Eowyn shook her head. "But he's a man now; he should know that he can't run from his duty."

"Eowyn," Arwen said gently. "What are you running from?" Eowyn stopped dead and looked at Arwen's deep blue eyes then ran from the room.

..::..

Legolas sat beside the burnt out fire pit, the sun was just beginning to set. He mixed the herbs that Aragorn had told him to, one of the few times Aragorn had been awake in the last hours. Legolas looked out into the forest around him, hoping Eowyn and Arwen would come back soon. His eyes moved to where Aragorn lay half propped up on the rock face. Legolas sighed and walked over to where he rested. "Aragorn," he said touching the man's shoulder. "Aragorn," he said again louder.

Aragorn opened his eyes lazily. "Yes, doctor?" he said smiling his eyes closing again.

"Drink this," Legolas said putting the cup into his hands.

"Did you put in the elder sap?" Aragorn asked.

Legolas nodded. "And the poppy milk."

"You're going to half stop putting in the milk." Aragorn said.

Legolas looked at him confused. "Isn't that for the pain?" he asked.

Aragorn nodded. "But it's killing me," he said.

"What," Legolas exclaimed. "What do you mean it's killing you?"

Aragorn shrugged. "It's weakening my heart," he said. "If I don't stop taking it, my heart will stop."

Legolas looked at him in horror. "Why didn't you tell me this?" he exclaimed.

"I needed the pain to stop so I could think," Aragorn said. "I had to think of what I would have done if it was you or someone else. I couldn't remember anything about healing when all I could think of was the hole in my side."

Slowly Legolas nodded beginning to understand. "Should I mix it again?" he asked.

Aragorn shook his head. "Give it to me now, but if I ask for it again you cannot give it to me until Eowyn and Arwen get here, even if I beg you for it," he said "Do you understand? Even if I cry to you, even if I say I'm going to die without it, you must not mix it in." Legolas nodded. Aragorn tipped back the cup and drank it in a single gulp. Almost immediately his eyes closed and he fell asleep again.

..::..

Eowyn rode through the growing dark, trying to ignore the continuous talking of the old man riding behind her. Arwen's words ran over and over through her mind.

"How long ago was he hit?" the healer asked irritated like it was not the first time he had had to repeat himself.

Eowyn turned around to look at him. "A day and a half, almost two."She answered curtly.

The healer cringed. "He will have almost bled to death by now, he will have to be strong to survive the burning."

At that Eowyn released the anger that she had been trying to contain. "He is strong," she said in almost a yell. "He's the strongest man I have ever known, and he is noble and honorable!" Her voice faded until it was only a whisper. "And I love him." She looked down at her hands and let a tear slip from her eye. "You cannot let him die," she said turning back to the healer, he nodded grimly. 'There are things I have to tell him,' she thought to herself. 'I have to let him know that I love him, that I could never live without him.'

..::..

Aragorn lay staring into the dying coals of the fire. He tried to control the shake in his body but it was all he could do not to cry out as the pain pulsed out from under his bandages. He heard the slow heavy breathing of Legolas laying asleep across from him and turned his head to look up at the stars. He could feel himself breathing in the night air. 'Not the best of signs,' he thought to himself. His mind strayed to Eowyn he could see her so clearly, every detail of her body from the curl of her hair to the way her eyelashes lay on her cheeks when she slept. He smiled to himself. 'Never thought you would die with a woman on your mind,' he scolded. He thought her heard huff beats or was it just his heart, he couldn't tell. Everything seemed to be bleeding together. He realized the stars had started to spin in the sky above him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement he tried to turn his head to see but the simple movement sent pain shooting through his temples. Aragorn watched through the fog in his eyes as Eowyn slipped from her horse and walked hurriedly toward him. She knelt by his side, her lips were moving but Aragorn couldn't make out what she was saying but she smiled down at him and placed her cool hand on his face. Aragorn felt someone remove the bandage from around his ribcage and push at the skin around the room. He groaned at the pain, his eyes locking on Eowyn's face.

All through the night, as Legolas and the healer hovered around him, Aragorn's eyes remained fixed on her. Eowyn moved him onto her lap holding his head gently in her arms, whispering to him, and stroking his hair. Every touch sent him closer to blacking out and he felt any strength he had left in him seep away. He felt Legolas pin him to the ground as if he had any strength to fight, Eowyn's embrace tightened and out of the corner of his eye he saw the bright red glow of the heated sword. He sucked in air waiting for the heat to mold his flesh together. As it touched his skin, his mouth opened but no scream came only the sound of his ragged breath. Then the world began to tilt and spin and Eowyn's face was the only thing still clear to him. He looked into her deep blue eyes one last time then surrendered himself to the darkness.

..::..

In the earliest hours of the morning, when the sky turned to a deep purple and the fire was all but out the healer sat back and wiped his hands slowly on a bit of white cloth. "I have done everything I can for him." Legolas' head shot up, meeting his gaze with a hard look. "It is up to him now, if he lives or dies." The healer continued, rising slowly on aged legs. "I will leave you now, for a while."

For the first time, Eowyn looked up and met Legolas' gaze; they looked at each other for a long time until Legolas finally spoke. "He has the blood of the Dunadane," was all he said. Then he to stood and walked to Eowyn, placing a hand on her shoulder. Eowyn looked back down to where Aragorn lay limply in her arms and touched his cheek. Legolas bent down and kissed the top of her head then followed the healer into the forest.

Eowyn watched them go as tears started to slip down her pale cheeks. She tried to blink away the water from her eyes but it only made the tears come faster. She choked on a sob. "It can't end like this," she said looking down at Aragorn's face. She smiled sadly through her tears. "You can't leave me now!"

Eowyn laid his limp form down onto the damp ground and touched his cheek. An early morning fog was rolling in from the darkness of the trees surrounding the two figures. Eowyn looked up her eyes shining like a frightened animal. From the ground Aragorn moaned his eyes flickering open, Eowyn's head snapped down with a small gasp. "Aragorn," she said. "You're awake!" Her head began to spin and she felt emotion swell in her heart until she thought it was going to burst. Aragorn tried to sit up but with a sharp gasp he fell back down to his elbows, Eowyn eased him down to her lap so his head rested on her leg once again. She stroked the side of his face, fresh tears falling from her eyes. Aragorn stared at her with his pale gray eyes and moved a hand to take hers, holding it tight as she cried over him. "I love you, I'm sorry," she kept saying through her tears. "I'm sorry, I never should have left you."

Aragorn smiled sadly; unable to speak, he reached up and tucked Eowyn's long hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek. "I love you," he said hoarsely. "Can you forgive me?" Eowyn looked down at him, confused. "I never should have lied to you," he continued taking her hand again.

"You didn't lie," she said smiling sadly.

"I love you, Eowyn," he said unable to take his eyes off of her face. "You're so beautiful," he said.

Eowyn smiled. "You're the only one who can make me cry like this," she said wiping away her tears. Aragorn frowned, his brow knitting together. "What's wrong?" Eowyn asked. "Are you in pain?"

Aragorn shook his head. "I don't want to make you cry," he said.

Eowyn smiled bending over to kiss him slowly and gently. "Then stop dying," she said under her breath joining their mouths again.


End file.
